GRANVILLE -- A Twitter account claiming responsibility for causing lockdowns at institutions across Ohio, including one at Denison University, was suspended late Wednesday afternoon.

The suspension came after a lockdown lasted more than an hour at the university, which was requested by police after an anonymous phone threat was made to Denison campus security.

The threat made to Denison is one of several being investigated for potential links, Granville Township Fire Chief Jeff Hussey said Wednesday.

A caller allegedly told Denison security officials about a shooting that would potentially take place, Hussey said. Granville police requested a lockdown around 2 p.m. and lifted the lockdown around 3:30 p.m.

Additional details of the threat have not been made public by authorities.

Hussey said there would be increased security at the university Wednesday night as a precaution.

Shortly after the lockdown was announced, The Advocate found a Twitter account that claimed to be "swatting" Denison. The post appeared to have been made before news of the lockdown became public.

The term "swatting" typically is used to describe prank calls made to emergency agencies reporting a dire or critical emergency that does not actually exist. The prank has been used on individuals, celebrities and schools in the past.

The Twitter account posted a link to a live audio feed where two people were heard saying they had called Denison and later called a second time, reiterating the first threat. They included details that had not been released to the public at that time.

The Advocate alerted Granville police to the feed. Authorities confirmed later they were monitoring the same site.

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Granville students begin to get on busses(Photo: Jessica Phelps/The Advocate)

Hussey said similar threats at other institutions had been made and are being looked into.

Granville Police Sgt. Keith Blackledge said six agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Department of Homeland Security; and the FBI are involved and helped local law enforcement officials end the lockdown.

Blackledge said the federal agencies had previous information about other threats.

He said he was not aware if swatting had been mentioned in the call.

"The other agencies have some recordings," Blackledge said. "We'll be gathering a lot of information (Thursday)."

One of the people who appeared to be a participant in the live audio feed also posted tweets Aug. 27 claiming responsibility for a threat at a Pickerington high school and at a high school in Maryland. News reports indicate a threat was made to the Maryland high school referenced by the Twitter account user Aug. 27.

Denison University was on lock down Wednesday after a threat was received.

Blackledge said information had been obtained from Fairfield County authorities as well.

Both Twitter accounts also claim responsibility for multiple "swatting" incidents at schools across the country during the past several weeks.

Since The Advocate reported on the tweets, Twitter has suspended at least one of the accounts.

Threats also were reported to have been phoned in Wednesday to London High School, west of Columbus, and the University of Cincinnati.

The live audio feed included a threat phoned in Wednesday to the University of Maryland. The university posted a message on its website around 5 p.m. Wednesday about a threat, the details of which matched the audio heard on the feed.

Granville Exempted Village Schools was also placed on lockdown as a precaution.